The ground beneath his feet was no longer the same as he had known before. The mountains had vanished, replaced by a deep, concave pit stretching for thousands of miles, with holes of varying sizes within it. The deepest hole was bottomless, seemingly connected to an abyss.

On the barren land, streams of red lava flowed, steaming hot.

The countless demonic beasts that had previously lain prostrate on the mountain range had long since disappeared, and Shen Qian estimated that they had all turned to ashes under the extreme heat.

The surrounding air was distorted and blurry, with tiny sparks flying around.

Given the current environment alone, even ordinary experts from the Mountain and Sea Realms would not be able to stay for long.

Then, Chen Qian turned his gaze and saw the Zhu Yan at his feet, or more accurately, a charred object in the shape of a Zhu Yan.

It stood on its back, legs spread apart, hands raised in a supporting posture, head tilted upwards, mouth wide open, as if roaring in its final moments, or perhaps spewing something from its mouth.

Between his hands he held a piece of star debris with a diameter of tens of thousands of meters, still bearing embers, which was also the source of the high temperature he had just felt before sinking.

Although the falling star was the smallest of the seventeen "suns," its diameter was at least several hundred kilometers, according to visual estimation before it sank. This suggests that, at the last moment, whether due to the principle of collision or the ancient ferocious beast Zhu Yan unleashing all its power, it actually managed to shatter this small star.

Otherwise, the Great Wilderness world would probably have already fallen apart by now.

Although things aren't much better now, Shen Qian keenly sensed that the already depleted vitality of this world was fading away at an even faster rate.

Perhaps before long, this place will become a dead land, much like the original Spirit Witch World.

Shen Qian frowned, suddenly realizing that neither the Spirit Witch World nor the Great Wilderness World had particularly good living conditions.

Needless to say, the Great Wilderness World has seventeen suns... a cruel place that even dogs wouldn't want to stay in.

The Spirit Witch World, though a small world, only had a population of a few hundred thousand and a mere dozen or so powerful beings from the Mountain and Sea Realms. At the time, Shen Qian didn't think much of it, but after learning about the true number of Mountain and Sea Realms on Earth, it became very problematic.

The only explanation is that the spiritual power inherent in the Spirit Witch World itself is no longer sufficient to support the birth of a larger population and more powerful individuals.

At that time, the Spirit Witch World was destroyed by the Great Protector's sacrificial array, which was already full of doubts for Shen Qian, who was proficient in arrays.

But if the vitality of the spirit world itself is also declining, then everything makes sense.

Otherwise, a vibrant world would not have been forcibly refined by a Great Protector whose cultivation was only at the seventh level of the Mountain and Sea Realm.

That should have been the skill of kings and nobles... As can be seen from the formation principle of star weapons, using the starry sky as a furnace is a method that only kings and nobles who have mastered the power of the stars can use.

So the world behind the "door" is heading towards destruction in some form?

Shen Qian intuitively felt that this might be related to the reason for the appearance of the "gate," but more verification is needed.

He pulled himself back to reality, and while activating the Chaotic Origin to frantically absorb the remaining high-temperature energy from the surroundings to replenish himself, he turned his attention back to the series of events that had just occurred.

He had a strong suspicion that he had been framed.

Although he reviewed his experiences during this period before sinking, he could not find any evidence whatsoever.

Yes, on the surface, the whole incident seems to have nothing to do with each other.

Even if Ling Tianhou didn't speak up, he would still prioritize the Southwest War Zone, since it's his hometown, and accepting missions and recruiting team members wouldn't be a problem there.

Drawing the white ball was merely a matter of patrolling. His entry into the Great Wilderness World was also purely coincidental. Huo Ling'er could not possibly harm him, nor could she control the sandstorm in the restricted area. Therefore, Huo Ling'er's accident was a coincidence, and his encounter with Huo Ling'er was also a coincidence.

Upon entering the Great Wilderness World, he happened to encounter hundreds of monsters attempting to descend upon Earth. It was perfectly acceptable for him to stop and delay them out of a sense of duty.

Xu Nian and the others possessed powerful tools from the Council of Kings and Marquises. Although those tools nearly killed him, Shen Qian was certain that they were not originally intended to target him.

Because this scroll, capable of causing stars to fall, must have been produced only after a joint discussion and decision by the royal council.

If this is aimed at him, it means the entire Royal Council is hostile to Shen Qian. In that case, Shen Qian might as well give up and commit suicide as soon as possible.

In other words, his stumbling upon it was still a coincidence.

Even if Xu Nian had warned him beforehand, he probably would have had a hard time extricating himself from the situation.

It is entirely reasonable for Xu Nianjian to have mistakenly entered the place and thus harbor evil intentions, intending to kill him as an opportunity.

Does he need any reason to be so vengeful towards the lineage of Duke Yanshan?

So, upon analyzing the whole incident, Shen Qian was astonished to find that he couldn't find any trace of scheming at all.

But then... he almost died.

A chill ran down my spine.

He would rather his guess be wrong than deal with this strange, unknown, and potentially existing force, which was completely impossible to guard against.

But how many coincidences are there in the world?

"Even if it's a coincidence, we have to figure out everything. If this happens again, who knows if the system can still protect me?"

Shen Qian's expression changed several times before he finally gritted his teeth and said.

He seemed to have easily escaped this life-or-death crisis, but without the system's help to break the deadlock and without Zhu Yan's existence, even if he had used the Ten Directions Creation Body and the Time River Conch, his chances of survival would still have been slim.

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